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The following Act was passed by Parliament on 7th October 2014 and assented to by the President on 18th November 2014:—

Remote Gambling Act 2014

(No. 34 of 2014)

I assent.

TONY TAN KENG YAM,

President.

18th November 2014.

Date of Commencement: 2nd February 2015

An Act to regulate remote gambling and remote gambling services affecting Singapore and to make related amendments to certain other written laws.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Remote Gambling Act 2014 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

General interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“authorised officer”, in relation to any provision of this Act, means any police officer or other public officer, or employee of the IMDA or other public authority, appointed under section 32 to perform any function or exercise any power under that provision;

[Act 22 of 2016 wef 01/10/2016]

“business” includes a venture or concern in trade or commerce, whether or not conducted on a regular, repetitive or continuous basis;

“certificate of exemption” means a certificate of exemption issued under section 26(1);

“conduct” means any act or omission, or any series of acts or omissions, or both;

“exempt operator” means a person who is the holder of a certificate of exemption;

“facilitate”, in relation to the commission of an offence, means any conduct by a person that enables or aids the commission of the offence by another where either —

(a)

the person intends that the conduct would enable or aid the commission of the offence; or

(b)

the person is reckless as to whether or not the conduct would enable or aid the commission of the offence,

but does not include mere advertising;

“IMDA” means the Info‑communications Media Development Authority established by section 3 of the Info‑communications Media Development Authority Act 2016;

[Act 22 of 2016 wef 01/10/2016]

“MAS” means the Monetary Authority of Singapore established under the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 186);

[Deleted by Act 22 of 2016 wef 01/10/2016]

“public authority” means a body established or constituted by or under a public Act to perform or discharge a public function;

“public place” means a place, or a part of a place, to which the public, or a section of the public, ordinarily has access, whether or not by payment or by invitation, such as but not limited to a shop, restaurant, hotel, cinema or club;

“section of the public” includes the members of a particular club, society or organisation;

“card issuer” means any person carrying on a business of issuing credit cards or charge cards in Singapore, and includes any agent of that person;

“credit card” or “charge card” means any article, whether in physical or electronic form, of a kind commonly known as a credit card or charge card, or any similar article intended for use in purchasing goods or services on credit, whether or not the card or article is valid for immediate use;

“financial institution” means —

(a)

any bank licensed under the Banking Act (Cap. 19);

(b)

any card issuer licensed under the Banking Act;

(c)

any holder of a stored value facility under the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act (Cap. 222A);

(d)

any operator of a payment system designated under the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act; or

(e)

any other person licensed, approved, registered or regulated by the MAS under any written law,

but does not include such person or class of persons as the Minister, after consulting the MAS, may prescribe by order in the Gazette;

“financial transaction provider” means —

(a)

any creditor;

(b)

any card issuer;

(c)

any operator of a terminal at which an electronic fund transfer may be initiated;

(d)

any operator of a money transmitting business;

(e)

any operator or any participant in a payment system or network used to effect a credit transaction, an electronic fund transfer, a stored value product transaction or a money transmitting service; or

(f)

any participant in a prescribed payment system, being a payment system that is used or may be used in connection with or to facilitate payment to a remote gambling service,

but does not include a financial institution.

(2) A reference to a person being licensed, approved, registered or regulated under any written law referred to in subsection (1) includes a person who is exempted under that written law from being so licensed, approved, registered or regulated.

Meaning of “gambling” and associated terms

4.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“betting” means the staking of money or money’s worth —

(a)

on the outcome of a horse-race or sporting event (whether or not the horse-race or sporting event has already occurred or been completed); or

(b)

on any other event, thing or matter specified or described by the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, to be betting for the purposes of this Act;

“gambling” means all or any of the following:

(a)

betting;

(b)

gaming;

(c)

participating in a lottery;

“gambling service” means —

(a)

a service for the conduct of a public lottery;

(b)

a service for the supply of any public lottery tickets;

(c)

a service for the negotiating, placing, making, receiving or accepting of bets; or

(d)

a service for the conduct of a game of chance where the game is played for money or money’s worth, and a customer of the service gives or agrees to give money or money’s worth to play or enter the game;

“game of chance” includes —

(a)

a game that involves both an element of chance and an element of skill; or

(b)

a game that is presented as involving an element of chance,

but does not include any game, method, device, scheme or competition specified or described by the Minister, by order in the Gazette, as not to be a game of chance for the purposes of this Act;

“gaming” means playing a game of chance for money or money’s worth;

“lottery” —

(a)

means any game, method, device, scheme or competition whereby money or money’s worth is distributed or allotted in any manner depending upon or to be determined by chance or lot, whether the same is held, drawn, exercised or managed inside or outside Singapore; and

(b)

includes any other game, method, device, scheme or competition specified or described by the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, to be a lottery for the purposes of this Act;

“money’s worth” means any thing recognised as equivalent to money and includes virtual credits, virtual coins, virtual tokens, virtual objects or any similar thing that is purchased within, or as part of, or in relation to, a game of chance;

“public lottery” means a lottery to which the public or any section of the public in Singapore has or may have access, and every lottery is to be treated as a public lottery until the contrary is proved;

“telephone betting service” means a gambling service provided on the basis that dealings with customers are wholly by way of voice calls (whether or not involving a recorded or synthetic voice) made using a standard telephone service.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person plays a game of chance if the person participates in a game of chance whether or not there are other participants in the game of chance, and whether or not a computer generates images or data taken to represent the actions of other participants in the game of chance.

(3) To avoid doubt, a person plays a game of chance for money or money’s worth if the person plays a game of chance and thereby acquires a chance of winning any money or money’s worth, whether or not the person risks losing anything at the game.

Meanings of “remote gambling”, “remote communication”, etc.

5.—(1) In this Act, “remote gambling” means gambling in which a person participates by the use of remote communication, even if the gambling is done only partly by means of remote communication.

(2) In this Act, “remote communication” means communication through —

(a)

the Internet;

(b)

telephone;

(c)

television or radio; or

(d)

any other kind of electronic or other technology for facilitating communication,

but does not include any specific system or method of communication that the Minister declares, by order in the Gazette, is not to be treated as remote communication for the purposes of this Act.

(3) In this Act, a “remote gambling service” means a gambling service provided to customers for them to participate in gambling by the use of remote communication.

(4) In this Act, a person provides a remote gambling service where the person does any of the following in the course of carrying on a business:

(a)

provides facilities for remote gambling by others in accordance with arrangements made by the person;

(b)

organises, manages or supervises remote gambling by others in accordance with arrangements made by the person, which may include inviting others to gamble, or placing, making, receiving or accepting bets, using remote communication in accordance with those arrangements;

(c)

distributes a prize offered in remote gambling in accordance with arrangements made by the person;

(d)

distributes money or money’s worth paid or staked by others in remote gambling in accordance with arrangements made by the person;

(e)

facilitates participation by others in remote gambling in accordance with arrangements made by the person (including by allowing others to participate in such remote gambling);

(f)

uses a document, device, piece of equipment or other thing for the purposes of enabling remote gambling by others to take place in accordance with arrangements made by the person.

(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person provides facilities for remote gambling if the person makes facilities for remote communication available for use, being facilities which are adapted or presented in such a way as to facilitate, or to draw attention to the possibility of, their use for gambling, and the nature, adaptation or presentation of the facilities is such that —

(a)

they cannot reasonably be expected to be used for purposes other than gambling; or

(b)

they are intended to be used wholly or partly for gambling.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (4) or (5), it does not matter whether facilities for remote gambling are provided —

(a)

only partly by means of remote communication; or

(b)

outside Singapore or partly inside and partly outside Singapore.

(7) However, a person does not provide a remote gambling service or provide facilities for remote gambling, and is not an agent referred to in section 9(1) or (2), merely because the person provides, or operates facilities for network access, or provides services relating to, or provides connections for, the transmission or routing of data.

(8) For the purposes of this Act —

(a)

a remote gambling service has a foreign-customer link if none of the customers is physically present in Singapore, whether or not an individual who is physically present in Singapore is capable of becoming a customer of that service; and

(b)

a remote gambling service has a Singapore-customer link if any of the customers is physically present in Singapore,

and in determining for the purposes of paragraph (a) whether an individual who is physically present in Singapore is capable of becoming a customer of a service, it is to be assumed that the individual will not falsify or conceal the individual’s identity or location.

(9) For the purposes of this Act, a remote gambling service is a Singapore-based remote gambling service if —

(a)

the service is provided in the course of carrying on a business in Singapore;

(b)

the central management and control of the service is in Singapore; or

(c)

where the service is provided to customers using an Internet carriage service, all or any of the relevant Internet content is hosted in Singapore.

(10) In subsection (9)(c), “relevant Internet content”, in relation to a remote gambling service, means Internet content that is accessed, or available for access, by an end‑user in the capacity of a customer of that remote gambling service.

Definitions for remote gambling advertising, etc.

6.—(1) In this Act, a “remote gambling service advertisement” means any writing, still or moving picture, sign, symbol (whether 3‑dimensional or 2‑dimensional) or other visual image, or any audible message, or any combination of 2 or more of those things, that gives publicity to, or otherwise promotes or is intended to promote —

(a)

a particular remote gambling service;

(b)

remote gambling services in general;

(c)

a domain name or uniform resource locator (URL) that relates to a particular remote gambling service; or

(d)

any words that are closely associated with a particular remote gambling service (whether or not also closely associated with other kinds of services or products),

unless excluded by the Minister by an order published in the Gazette.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a person publishes a remote gambling service advertisement if the person does any of the following things:

(a)

the person includes the advertisement, or something that contains the advertisement, on an online location or in any way that renders the advertisement accessible from the Internet;

(b)

the person includes the advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, leaflet, ticket or other document that is available, or distributed, to the public or a section of the public;

(c)

the person includes the advertisement in a film, video, television programme or radio programme that is, or is intended to be, seen or heard by the public or a section of the public;

(d)

the person displays, screens or plays the advertisement, or something that contains the advertisement, so that it can be seen or heard in or from a public place, any vehicle, vessel, train or aircraft or any workplace;

(e)

the person sells, hires or supplies the advertisement, or something containing the advertisement, to the public or a section of the public, or offers the advertisement, or something containing the advertisement, for sale or supply to, or hire by, the public or a section of the public;

(f)

the person makes known the advertisement to the public or a section of the public in any other manner or by any other means.

(3) However, none of the following, of itself, amounts to publication of a remote gambling service advertisement:

(a)

the communication of information that is or includes a remote gambling service advertisement to a group of people all of whom are involved in the provision of remote gambling services;

(b)

the publication in a telephone directory of the name of a person who provides a remote gambling service unless —

(i)

the publication is on the Internet; and

(ii)

the entry for the person contains a link to an online location for the person that relates to the remote gambling service;

(c)

an index of online search results which links or refers an end‑user in Singapore to remote gambling services or facilities for the access or use of remote gambling services, which is made available to that person only because that person initiates a search through an online information location service, such as but not limited to a search engine service;

(d)

any other activity specified or described by the Minister in an order published in the Gazette.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person promotes remote gambling if —

(a)

the person does anything to encourage one or more persons to take advantage (whether directly or through an agent) of facilities for remote gambling;

(b)

with a view to increasing the use of facilities for remote gambling, the person brings those facilities or information about those facilities to the attention of one or more persons; or

(c)

the person participates in or facilitates an activity knowing or believing that it is designed —

(i)

to encourage one or more persons to take advantage (whether directly or through an agent) of facilities for remote gambling; or

(ii)

to increase the use of facilities for remote gambling by bringing those facilities or information about those facilities to the attention of one or more persons,

but that person does not promote remote gambling merely because that person publishes a remote gambling service advertisement.

(5) In subsection (1), “words” includes abbreviations, initials and numbers.

Purpose of Act

7. The purpose of this Act is to regulate remote gambling and remote gambling services affecting Singapore with the object of —

(a)

preventing remote gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime or disorder; and

(b)

protecting young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by remote gambling.